The invention relates to an apparatus for flight path correction of flying bodies, such as projectiles, rockets and the like, with the aid of a laser guide beam. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus for flight path correction of flying bodies such as projectiles, rockets and the like, with the aid of a laser guide beam, wherein the course of the respective flying body is determined in a measuring apparatus, which is associated with the firing apparatus and contains an optical receiving detector, and processed in order to obtain an appropriate correction signal, and wherein these correction signals are then transmitted, through encoding of the laser guide beam, to a receiving apparatus disposed on the tail side in the respective projectile.
To increase hit probability, particularly in combat involving moving targets, correction of the projectile flight path, especially at an increased range, is imperative in addition to optimum fire control and a short flight time. For this purpose, it is necessary to determine the projectile course and, in rotating projectiles, the roll angle position, so that the correction pulses can be triggered at the proper time in order to achieve an approximation of the desired flight path.
To determine the projectile course, it is already known from German Patent No. 25 43 606 C2 and published German Patent application No. 41 10 766 A1 to dispose a light source, for example a pyrotechnical illuminating composition or a laser light source, on the respective projectile, and an optical receiver in a measuring apparatus associated with the firing apparatus. The major disadvantage of these known apparatuses is the outlay associated with the arrangement of a separate light source on the respective projectile.
Also known are apparatuses in which the respective projectile course is not determined by a measuring apparatus associated with the firing apparatus, but by the respective projectile itself. To this end, a laser beam which rotates about the desired flight path of the projectile is used. The receiving apparatus disposed on the side of the projectile then determines the course of the projectile from the delay time between a reference position and the position at which the laser beam impacts the projectile tail. A disadvantage of this apparatus is the relatively high outlay required for the projectile-side receiving apparatus.